Refrigerating package



Aug 4, 1936. A. c. ROUTH 2,049,779

REFRIGERAT ING PACKAGE Filed Oct. 30, 1955 INVENTOR.

l5d zw/ eg/ Patented Aug. 4, 1936 Qumran" STATES PATENT OFFICE REFRIGERATING PACKAGE- Almond 0. Heath, Sandusky, Ohio Application'Oct'ober s'o, 1935, Serial No. 47,469 11 Claims. (01. 62-915) This invention relates to containers and particularly to refrigerating containers for ice cream and other frozen comestibles. I

' It is a well known practice to enclose a consumable portion of ice cream or other frozen of the container remote from the dry ice is kept from melting, the ice cream nearer the'dry ice will be frozen too hard and solid to be attractive for consumption; or if the ice cream near the dry ice is kept at the right temperature, the more remotely disposed ice cream will melt.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improved refrigerating package for ice cream and other frozen comestibles.

Another object is to provide a refrigerating container of the class referred to adapted to be refrigerated by dry ice, and having improved means for maintaining all parts of the ice cream in the container at substantially the same temperature. a

Another object is to provide a refrigerating container of the class referred to having means for enclosing a quantity of dry ice'in one compartment and a quantity of comestible frozen material in another compartment in the container, and having improved means for causing all parts of the comestible containing compartment to be kept at substantially the same temperature.

Another object is to provide an improved refrigerating container of the class referred to adapted to be manufactured entirely from one kind of heat insulating material such as corrugated paper board;

Other objects will be in the art to which my My invention is fully apparent to those skilled invention appertains. disclosed in the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a container embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken from the plane 2! of Fig. 1. I

Referring to the drawing. I have shown a con- Fig. 1.

tainer embodying my invention and comprising lateral walls |l and top and bottom walls 2 and 3 constituting the outer wall of the container.

The'walls I, 2, and 3 may be made from any suitable heat insulating material, such as corrugated paper board or fibrous material and the structure and material of the outer walls constitute no essential part of the present invention. Preferably, however, the top wall 2 ismade so that it may be opened after the manner of an ordinary pasteboard box. Within ,the wall I is a liner 4 comprising lateral v walls 5-5 and a bottom wall 6. The walls 5 and. 6 also may be made of any suitable heat insulating material and constitute no essential part of the invention. A tubular'liner 1 is telescoped within'the walls 5-5, resting at its lower end upon the bottom wall 6 as shown at 8. The liner I is preferably made from corrugated paper board with the corrugations running upwardly and downwardly of the container as shown in Such corrugated paper board as is well comprises spaced layers of paper 9-9 therebetween paper in corrugated formashown at ill-i0. The longitudinally extending corrugations thus provide ducts within the wall of the liner 'li extending from end to end-thereof.

At its lower end the liner 1 has a plurality of recesses or notches lill formed in its lower edge. Within the liner l and resting upon the bottom wall 6 is a liner wall 52 of heat insulating material. I

Resting upon the upper end of the liner 1 is a cover element 83 formed from heat insulating material such as corrugated cardboard or the like having a plurality of notches in its edges as shown at l4l4, four such notches being a suitable number. Preferably the notches it are of smaller radial depth than the thickness of the liner i, so that the recesses M are completely covered by the end of the liner 7.

The liner 1 is shorter than the inner wall 5 and a cover I5 of heat insulating material rests upon the upper end of the wall 5. The cover element l3 thus divides the interior of the container into' ment I 6 and a lower large compartment H.

In the practice of my invention, the containers known having tion as may be made complete as illustrated and as dean upper small compart- 'atively slow,

comestible or other material to be refrigerated and illustrated at 18 is then placed in the container resting upon the bottom 12 and within the liner 1. The cover element I3 is then put in position and a small package of dry ice illustrated at I9 is laid upon the cover element 13. The cover 15 is then put in place and thereafter the upper walls 2 are folded in position and secured by adhesive or in any other suitable means in the usual manner.

In the operation of the container, it will be observed that there is no direct air communication between the compartment l6 and the compartment H, such communication being closed ofi by the cover element l3 by overlapping at all points at least a portion of the upper end of the liner 1. Upper portions of the compartment II are therefore chilled by conduction through the cover element l3, and such conduction being relthere is no liability that the upper portion of the ice cream package l8 will be rendered too cold.

Air in the compartment l6, however, communicates downwardly through the recesses I through the ducts [0 formed by the corrugations out at the notches H into the lower part of the compartment l1, and the compartment is chilled by the air communication thus effected and taking place slowly, there being no direct circulation as willtbe understood from the foregoing description.

By this means, no part -of the compartment I1 is colder than another and the ice cream in the package [8 may be maintained at a suitable temperature at all parts thereof over a long period of time.

The added insulation provided by the bottom l2 upon which the package l8 rests compensates for the direct contact therewith of the ice cream package.

The airwithin the compartment I! may have a true circulation by convection; and the transfer of heat through the solid material of the cover element l3 directly from the compartment l1 takes place at approximately the same rate as the transfer of heat from the compartment l6 through the air over the relatively greater distance by way of the ducts In; so that the entire interior of the compartment II will give up its compartment II will conditions being the same,

- the end of heat at substantially the same rate and be maintained at substantially the same temperature.

It is one of the advantages of my invention that for a. given size of compartment l1 and of compartment l6, and for a given quantity of dry ice IS, the temperature at which the compartment II will be maintained or the length of time at which it will be maintained at a predetermined temperature may be controlled by the height of the notches I l, or may be controlled by the length of the recesses M or by both concurrently. For example, with all other conditions the same, if the notches l I are higher, the temperature in the be maintained colder and vice versa; and if the recesses I4 are longer, other the temperature in the compartment II will be colder and vice v'ersa. And, while a change of length of the recesses M will change the temperature in the compartment H, the temperature is more sensitively responsive to a change of height of the notches ll,

Thus, if it be desired to keep ice cream such as that inthe'packag'e 18 for eight hours and at that time have it at, say, 32 F., a liner may be employed having therein notches H of a corresponding height; but if at the end of that time it be desired to have the ice cream at a lower chamber and passageways effecting communication betemperature in the compartment H with the above described construction, it only being necessary to provide enough dry ice to last for the length of time that it is desired to keep the package refrigerated.

As a further means of adjustably controlling the rate of refrigeration in the compartment [1, and which is particularly applicable to cases in which the container will be transported under high outside temperature conditions and therefore in which it is necessary to effect refrigeration at a high rate, the apparatus above described may be used as follows. The liner 1 may be telescoped into the container upsidedown with respect to the position illustrated whereby the notches II will form with the recesses M a communication directly from the upper or dry ice compartment Hi to the package compartment II. By such an inter-communication, a rapid transfer of heat will occur. And here again, the rate of heat transfer may be predetermined and therefore adjustably varied by selecting a suitable liner 1 and a suitable partition l3 having large or small notches and recesses to provide a large or small inter-communicating passageway.

In all of the above described modes of operation of the elements comprising the refrigerating container embodying my invention, it is believed that refrigeration is effected by the carbondioxide gas of high specific gravity flowing downwardly from the dry ice and displacing the warmer and lighter air or warmed gas thereunder, expansion of the dry ice into gas being permitted by leakage outwardly through joints and crevices of the package.

Thus, in a manufactory sending out packages of ice cream in boxes as rality of different liners I having notches H of different height or a plurality of covers having recesses M of different lengths may be kept in stock and at the time of shipping out the' package a suitable liner or suitable partition l3 may be put into the box to correspond with the demands or. requirements of the customer who is to receive the ice cream for consumption at a specified time.

Thus, my invention not only provides an improved refrigerating package, but provides one, the degree of refrigeration of which may be readily adjustably varied.

My invention is not limited to the exact details of construction shown and described. Changes and modifications may be made without departabove described, a pluing from the spirit of my'invention or sacrificing .60

into the interior thereof, a transverse partition 70 of low heat conducting material. closing the chamber at the opposite end of the liner,. and i providinga closed compartment outside of the for containing refrigerating material,

tween the ducts" and the interior of the compartment.

2. A refrigerating container as described in claim 1 and in which the said liner is composed of corrugated board material and the ducts are comprised by the corrugations.

3. In a refrigerating container for ice cream and the like, a box-like enclosure having walls of heat insulating material, a wall liner composed of corrugated board with the"corrugations extending longitudinally of the chamber and one end of the liner resting upon an end wall of the chamber, the other end of the liner terminating inwardly of the opposite wall of the chamber, the liner at the first said end of the chamber having notches in its end providing communication beotween the corrugations and the chamber interior, a transverse partition of low heat conductivity resting upon the opposite end of the liner closing" the chamber at that end and having openings at its periphery communicating with the opposite ends of said longitudinally extending corrugations, the partition providing a compartment adjacent one end of the container 4. In a refrigerating container for ice cream and the like, a box-like enclosure comprising a chamber having walls of heat-insulating material, a partition in the chamber providing an upper refrigerant containing compartment and a lower compartment to be refrigerated, means providing ducts having heat insulated walls extending substantially vertically downwardly from the partition and opening into the lower compartment at a predetermined vertical distance from the bottom wall thereof, and the ducts at the upper ends opening into the upper compartment, the said vertical distance being proportioned to the predetermined desired refrigerated tempera ture of the lower compartment.

5. In a refrigerating container for ice cream and the like, a box-like enclosure comprising a chamber having walls of heat-insulating material, a partition in the chamber providing an upper refrigerant containing compartment and a lower compartment to be refrigerated, means providing ducts having heat insulated walls extending substantially vertically downward from the partition and opening into the lower compartment at a distance from the bottom wall thereof, the ducts at their upper ends opening into the upper compartment through passageways of predetermined cross-sectional area in lateral portions of the partition, the said area of the hassageways being proportioned to the predetermined desired refrigerated lgnperature of the lower compartment.

6. In a refrigerating container for ice cream and the like, a box-like enclosure comprising a chamber having walls of heat-insulating material, a liner of heat-insulating material formed to be telescopable into the chamber, a partition in the chamber adapted to rest upon an upper portion of the liner to provide an upper refrigerant containing compartment and a lower compartment to be refrigerated within the liner, ducts extending substantially vertically downwardly from the partition through the liner and opening into the. lower compartment through notches formed in the lower edge of the liner of predetermined vertical height, and the ducts at their upper ends opening into the compartment through lateral notches in the edge of the partition, and the partition being interchangeable with other partitions having notches of diil'erent area and the liner: being interchangeable with other liners having notches of different height whereby the temperature maintained in the lower compartment may be adjustably controlled and varied.

7. In a refrigerating container for ice cream and the like, a box-like enclosure comprising a chamber having walls of heat-insulating material, a liner of heat-insulating material formed to be telescopable into the chamber, a partition in 'the chamber adapted to rest upon an upper portion of the liner to provide an upper refrigerant containing compartment and a lower compartment to be refrigerated within the liner, ducts extending substantially vertically downwardly from the partition through the liner and opening into the lower compartment through notches formed in the lower edge of the liner of predeterand the ducts at their upper ends opening into the compartment through lateral notches in the edge of the partition, and the liner being interchangeable with other liners having notches of difi'erent height whereby the temperature maintained in, the lower compartment may be adjustably controlled and varied. V

8. In a refrigerating container for ice cream and the like, a box-like enclosure comprising a chamber having walls of heat-insulating material, a liner of heat insulating material formed to be telescopable into the chamber, a partition in the chamber adapted to rest upon an upper portion of the liner to provide ant containing compartment partment to be refrigerated within the liner, ducts extending substantially vertically downwardly from the partition through the linerand opening into the lower compartment through notches formed in the lower edge of the liner of predetermined vertical height, and the ducts at their upper ends opening into the compartment through lateral notches in the edge of the partition, and the partition being interchangeable with other partitions having notches of different area whereby the temperature maintained in the lower compartment may be adjustably controlled and varied.

9. In a refrigerating container, a closed chamber having walls of heat-insulating material, a substantially vertically disposed liner of heatinsulating material therein spaced at its upper end from the upper end of the chamber and resting at its lower end on the chamber bottom wall, a transverse partition of heat-insulating material resting upon the upper end oi the liner and dividing the chamber into a closed small upper compartment and a closed large lower compartment and adapted to support a package of dry ice thereon in the small compartment the liner having substantially vertically disposed ducts mined vertical height,

and a lower coman upper rei'rigerextending therethrough opening at lower ends from the dry its peripheral edges through the ducts to cesses communicate with the upper ends of the ducts and the ducts open inwardly into the lower compartment 3, points remote from the partition. Q

11. In a refrigerating container, a closed chamber having walls of heat-insulating material, a

substantially vertical liner of heat-insulating of dry ice in the compartment, a plurality of material loosely telescoped therein and spaced at passageways comprising recesses in peripheral its upper end from the upper end of the chamber portions of the partition and a plurality of and resting upon the bottom wall of the chamnotches in the upper end of the liner registering 5 her, a transverse partition of heat-insulating therewith, effecting communication from the material resting upon the upper end of the liner small compartment to the upper portion of the and dividing the chamber into a small closed large compartment. upper compartment and a large closed lower ALMOND C. ROUTH. compartment, and adapted to support a package 

